When I worked at ‘Bold’ on Marlborough St. in Surry Hills as a junior designer (1996-1997) we’d often cross the park to get take-away fish and chips from Mohr Fish. There’s a shitload of roadwork going on around Surry Hills, but Di and I thought we’d trudge through the barriers to see if they were still open and yup, they were. It turns out that these guys have been around for 30 years and nothing had changed at all since I’d eaten there 10+ years ago.

Great fish and chips, but the bouillabaisse stole the show. Exactly how I remembered it, so rich in both smell and taste, perfectly toasted bread for dipping. Heaven.

Revisited The Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills with Dianne this weekend. It’s the workplace and home of one of my favourite Australian Artist’s Brett Whiteley (1939–1992).

He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes.

“Difficult pleasure” is how he described painting, or creating art stating; “Painting is an argument between what it looks like and what it means.”

Brett Whiteley – Art, life and the other thing 1978

Whiteley became addicted to heroin, this shows in quite a lot of his work and is what drew me to study the Artist when I was a kid in high school. It was his 1978 Archibald Prize-winning painting ‘Art, Life, and the other thing’ whichI chose to do a major on, specifically ‘the other thing’ depicting a baboon injecting himself with needles. The tormented baboon is the symbolisation of his battle with heroin.

On 15 June 1992, aged 53, Whiteley was found dead from an overdose in a motel room in Thirroul, North of Wollongong.

Proving that 90’s mindset that Artists only make it when they’re dead, in 1999 Whiteley’s painting The Jacaranda tree (1977), sold for A$1,982,000, a record for a modern Australian painter at that time. In 2007 his painting The Olgas for Ernest Giles was sold for an Australian record of A$3.5 million.

There are no photos allowed in the studio (respect to Wendy Whiteley his ex-wife and muse), but as a visitor you’re offered the unique opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the space; the studio full of unfinished paintings, his inspirational graffiti wall covered with quotes and images and a living area full of memorabilia such as photographs, objects, postcards, furniture, his music collection and sketchbooks.

Entry is free and the exhibit changes 3 times a year. It’s open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. If you’ve never been I highly recommend you go check it out!

All photos by Diana Panuccio, Photographer at The Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Just going through my blog drafts and realised I never published these pictures. Photos from my last shoot with the amazing Sydney Ramos. Her body is unreal. She’s a smart cookie too. I could shoot her all day.

Love it or hate it, the long bonnet makes the M135i shape different to most ‘hatchbacks’.

De-badged for stealth. BMW breadvans are the best!

The logo on the dash gives it away.

Di’s no longer a Mercedes girl! She just picked up this fantastic BMW M135i. It’s been modified with some quality power mods (tune, large intercooler and all pipes) and is making monstrous power. For just over $30k this thing is so much car for the money.

My friend Chris Leong had a M135i Coupe when they first came out, and I instantly thought the car looked a bit too small for him. I also felt the interior was a bit tight, but for Di I think the car is perfect. She’s got 4 doors (the baby seat has gone right in), a hatch and the car has enough of the luxury stuff her previous Merc SUV had, but this car ain’t no fake, it’s definitely the real deal.

Never put all your eggs in one basket, right?! I hate that I haven’t been able to control my Facebook Business pages, nor respond to the daily messages I get from Messenger as I’ve been banned for 30 days off Facebook. I’ve been here before, 3 times, maybe more, but it never gets less frustrating, nor any easier.

I’ve been replying to most messenger messages on Instagram. I can see the messenger messages but can’t reply, and when I log into Facebook it suggests that I’m actively on Facebook so I get a lot of messenger messages when I log in, even though I’m banned from replying. Sad thing is that direct private messages on Instagram tend to sit there dormant, until someone finally, months later, realises there was a message sitting in their Instagram inbox all along.

I’m over it, but I have no choice. Sadly I’m genuinely looking forward to being on Facebook again once my ban is lifted (another 12 more days now).